Yesterday's picture show Shirane in Mojiko port with a gray tarp to cover the impact zone of the anti-ship missile on its flank (starboard side).

The first pictures to show decommissioned Destroyer of the JMSDF, DDH-143 Shirane (first ship of the class), prepared as a "target ship" (with reflectors in place) with markings painted on its flank emerged in March this year.

It has to be noted that Shirane, having completed its mission as target ship, was under tow by tug boats from Maizuru to Kure. But while passing through Kanmon strait, Shirane collided with a floating lighthouse because of bad weather. Therefore Shirane had to be taken to Mojiko port for inspection.

Obviously the XASM-3 missile used for the test didn't have a live warhead: The missile just punctered the hull of Shirane but didn't explode (this is common practice for anti-ship missile tests and development. The only exception being SINKEX sinking exercise).

Back in November 2015, Navy Recognition was reporting that, two JMSDF PDF documents emmerged, the first one about "technical support" for XASM-3 test against a ship, the other one regarding modifications to turn DDH-143 Shirane into a target ship for the XASM-3 test.

We were reporting in 2015 that the test-firing would be done at a firing range designated “G airspace” close to Komatsu air base. According to the Japanese MoD in 2015 aerodynamic and captive carry tests on F-2 fighters had been completed and was then in the final stages of prototype manufacturing.

Japan's Acquisition Technology and Logistics Agency (ATLA) released for the first time last month footage showing the XASM-3 supersonic anti-ship missile during a test launch. ATLA is a branch of Japan's MoD created in 2015 to "ensure technological superiority and respond to operational needs smoothly and quickly".

It was recently reported that the missile will enter mass production in 2018 and be officially introduced with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), it will then be called ASM-3.Japanese media Yomiuri Online said that ASM-3 is characterized as being "difficult to intercept" because of its speed and is an answer to the Chinese Navy (PLAN) recent "aggressive activities in the East China Sea".

XASM-3 is capable of reaching Mach 3 speeds thanks to its ramjet engine fed by two air intakes (in a similar fashion to MBDA's Meteor air to air missile of to the French ASMP-A air-launched tactical nuclear missile). XASM-3 is flying close to sea level in the final stage of attack to reduce probability of detection and intercept.

We recently reported that a similar missile, the XSSM intended for the Japanese Navy (JMSDF) was also tested earlier this year. TEMA - JS OSUKA

Former JMSDF Destroyer Shirane Was Used as Target Ship for XASM-3 Anti-Ship Missile TestShirane towed into Mojiko port on September 7th. Picture via @toma_san

DDH-143 ShiraneThe Shirane-class destroyers are a pair of Japanese destroyers originally built during the late 1970s. They are built around a large central hangar which houses up to three helicopters. They displace 7,500 tons. The second ship of the class, DDH-144 Kurama, is still in service.

The test follows one in August that saw another rocket soar over Hokkaido. In that case too, much-vaunted Japanese and US missile-intercept capabilities were not used.

Now some in the United States are wondering why all this sophisticated weaponry isn't being used, especially as North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un accelerates toward his goal of building a nuclear missile capable of striking the United States.

"The next time the North Koreans launch a rocket, especially one that will traverse over our ally Japan, I would hope that we shoot it down as a message to the North Koreans and to other people, like in Japan, who are counting on us," Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher told lawmakers this week.

"Unless we demonstrate we're willing to use force, there's no reason for them to believe we will."

The US Pacific Command confirmed Friday's rocket was an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), and Seoul's defense ministry said it probably traveled around 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles), hurtling to a maximum altitude of 770 kilometers.

The missile, which fell in the Pacific Ocean, represented North Korea's furthest-ever flight.

Evans Revere and Jonathan Pollack of the Brookings Institution wrote in a paper that Washington should declare that any future North Korean missiles toward or over US or allied territory would be deemed a direct threat that would "be addressed with the full range of US and allied defensive capabilities."

- Why no shoot down -

The United States and Japan together claim they can shoot incoming missiles, but officials say Friday's siren-sounding launch didn't meet that threshold.

If the US and its allies "would have determined that it was a direct threat, we would have shot it down," said Pentagon spokesman Colonel Rob Manning, noting the military's "deep arsenal of capabilities."

For Japan, these include advanced Patriot batteries, which can stop lower altitude missiles, and SM-3 missiles it is developing with the US that can take out high-flying short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

The technology is imperfect but the Pentagon has demonstrated it can hit ICBM and intermediate-range missile targets.

Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, noted that when North Korea flies a missile over Japan, it travels higher than the capabilities of any ballistic missile-defense system stationed nearby, including the SM-3.

Also, Japan is a pacifist country constitutionally limited to taking military action only in self defense.

Hideshi Takesada, a North Korea and defense expert who is a professor at Takushoku University in Tokyo, told AFP that Japan plans to intercept a missile only when it enters its territorial air or objects fall onto Japanese territory.

Recent missiles have flown far above Japan and nothing fell to the ground.

"Therefore, the government did not issue a destruction order," Takesada said.

While Japan has decent anti-missile technology, it's difficult to cover the entire Japanese archipelago, experts noted.

"Also, it's technically hard to judge if a missile flying in an early stage can actually be a direct threat to the Japanese territory," Akira Kato, an international politics professor at J.F. Oberlin University in Tokyo, told AFP.

Japan and the United States do not want to risk trying an intercept unless it is posing a certain threat. A failed attempt could cause wide alarm and tip off Kim about any limitations.

"A potential failure in intercepting a missile could only result in giving an unnecessary impression that Japan's capability of missile defense is insufficient," Kato said.

Japan also has a network of Aegis missile-defense destroyers, and President Donald Trump wants Tokyo and South Korea to increase buys of such US gear. In Japan's case, that could include the purchase of a land-based version of Aegis.

- Boost phase -

According to the New York Times, the US saw Friday's missile being fueled up a day earlier.

Current US missile-defense technologies focus on stopping a North Korean missile when it is in mid-flight or during the "terminal" stage of its ballistic arc as it plummets towards its target.

But the Pentagon also wants to develop technologies to take out missiles the moment they leave the launch pad, when they are in their so-called "boost phase."

The missiles at that point are laden with explosive fuel and traveling more slowly, so are more vulnerable and could be taken out with another missile launched from nearby.

The US military is also exploring launching cyber attacks and even the possibility of mounting lasers on drones, making them capable of shooting down ballistic missiles shortly after launch.